Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

Last updated

Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend
Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast.jpg
Genre
LanguageEnglish
Cast and voices
Hosted by
Music
Theme music composed by The White Stripes
Opening theme"We're Going to Be Friends"
Production
Production
Length32–91 minutes
Publication
No. of episodes379 main episodes
220 fan episodes
24 specials
20 bonus episodes
Original releaseNovember 19, 2018 (2018-11-19) –
present
ProviderTeam Coco & Earwolf
Related
Website teamcoco.com/podcasts/conan-obrien-needs-a-friend

Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend is a weekly podcast hosted by American comedian, retired talk show host, and former Saturday Night Live and Simpsons writer Conan O'Brien. [1] It is co-hosted by O'Brien's executive assistant, Sona Movsesian, and producer, Matt Gourley. The podcast debuted in November 2018 and features O'Brien talking with comedians, actors, and other notable figures including Jeff Goldblum, Adam Sandler, Stephen Colbert, David Letterman, Bill Burr, Tom Hanks, and Tina Fey, along with personal friends, such as Lisa Kudrow, Joel McHale, Timothy Olyphant, and Kevin Nealon, [2] people he admires such as Carol Burnett, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, John Cleese, and Robert Caro, and political figures, such as Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama. [3] [4]

Contents

Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend has received positive reviews from critics and is one of the top comedy podcasts on iTunes. [5]

In April 2024, the international travel series titled Conan O'Brien Must Go was released on Max. The series features O'Brien meeting various fans in person whom he had previously featured via video calls in Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan, a popular sub-series of the podcast.

History

Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend premiered November 18, 2018, when O'Brien's talk show was on hiatus and being retooled from an hour-long format into a half-hour format. [6] O'Brien announced, "After 25 years of extensive market research, we have learned that people want to hear my voice without seeing my face. So rejoice, America." Despite this, Team Coco has always taped the interviews. Until May 12, 2025, however, only short clips were released. Starting May 12, 2025, the full episodes were made available on Youtube. [7]

The title refers to the podcast's premise that O'Brien is only friends with people who work for him, and the friendly conversations he has with celebrities on his talk show rarely translate to lasting friendships, an issue he is looking to fix. [2] [8]

The first 36 episodes of the podcast were packaged together as one season. [9] A second season consisting of another 36 episodes premiered on October 7, 2019, after a run of six special episodes titled Deep Dive with Dana Carvey . [10] The podcast abandoned the season format when it resumed on August 3, 2020.

In April 2021, O'Brien launched a sub-series titled Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan, in which he, Movsesian, and Gourley will take questions from fans all around the world via Zoom. [11] In July 2021, it was announced that O'Brien's assistant David Hopping would replace Movsesian during her maternity leave. Movsesian returned on the episode released October 10, 2021, the same podcast where Gourley announced he would be taking a month-long paternity leave. [12] In November 2021, O'Brien, Movsesian, and Gourley performed a live version of the podcast at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. [13]

In May 2022, the podcast, as well as the entire digital media business Team Coco, was sold to SiriusXM for $150 million. The show was announced to continue to be distributed everywhere it had previously been available. [14]

On May 17, 2023, it was announced that the international travel series titled Conan O'Brien Must Go was in production for Max. The series features O'Brien meeting various fans in person whom he had previously featured via video calls in the Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan sub-series. [15] On December 15, 2023, O'Brien recorded an episode with President of the United States Joe Biden at the White House.

Format

Sona Movsesian Live Wire Radio (cropped).jpg
Conan O'Brien at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival 03 (cropped).jpg
Superego at LA Podfest 2012 - Gourley.jpg
From left to right, Sona Movsesian, Conan O'Brien, and Matt Gourley host the podcast.

Main episodes

The core series of the podcast opens with the guests stating their names and saying, "I feel _____ about being Conan O'Brien's friend" in which they state their feelings about their respective friendships with Conan, intercut with guitar music by Jimmy Vivino. This is followed by the show's theme music, "We're Going to Be Friends" by The White Stripes. The majority of the podcast is then a casual interview between O'Brien and the guest.[ citation needed ]

Sona Movsesian, O'Brien's long-time personal assistant, and Matt Gourley, the podcast's producer, serve as sidekicks. Many of the episodes feature O'Brien periodically reading ads, sometimes introduced as a segment called "Conan O'Brien Pays Off the Mortgage on His Beach House". To close out the podcast, conversations largely unrelated to the preceding interview are featured, with O'Brien, Movsesian, and Gourley discussing topics including minor workplace squabbles, the success of the podcast, O'Brien's idiosyncrasies, or listeners' messages.[ citation needed ]

Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan

The subseries Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan involves O'Brien interviewing fans. The series became part of the premise behind the travel show Conan O'Brien Must Go , in which he visited several of the fans he had talked to on the podcast. [16] [17] [18]

Specials

In July 2019, after the success of Dana Carvey's earlier appearance on the main podcast, O'Brien and Carvey hosted Deep Dive with Dana. The miniseries was composed of six episodes. [19] [20]

In May 2023, a four-part series titled The Lost Hans and Franz Movie was released, based on the characters Hans and Franz as portrayed by Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon. Starting in the early 1990s, a Hans and Franz film was in development, with the working title Hans and Franz Go to Hollywood, with Arnold Schwarzenegger slated to star and produce. [21] In a 2010 interview on Conan , Nealon and host O'Brien discussed being holed up in a Santa Monica hotel room for a month with Carvey and Robert Smigel working on the script for what was then intended to be a musical. Carvey discussed the script under the title Hans and Franz: The Girlyman Dilemma during a 2016 interview with Howard Stern. According to Stern, the movie fell apart because Schwarzenegger withdrew, and that he was rumored to do so because of the poor reception of his self-parodying vehicle Last Action Hero . [22] Scenes from the script were acted out on the podcast, with Carvey, Nealon, and Smigel voicing the various roles. [23] [24]

Occasionally, live showings have been held at the Beacon Theater and SiriusXM Garage with special guests. This has included Stephen Colbert, Tracy Morgan and Ed Sheeran, among others. Before interviewing, Conan would interact with fans and hold a live Q&A. [25]

Reception

Critical reception

Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend has received strong reviews. Writing for Rolling Stone , Matt Saincome listed it among the best new podcasts of 2018: "Instead of the heavily choreographed late-night talk show conversations, listeners are treated to a much more vulnerable, behind-the-scenes vibe from O'Brien. The dynamic between him and his assistant Sona Movsesian helps with this. The relationship is endearing and serves as a springboard for the listener to get to know Conan better, by hearing how those around him see him." Saincome listed the podcasts with Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard as highlights among the first few episodes, writing, "All episodes of this podcast are worth a listen so far, but the one-two punch of Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard stood out for the genuine warmth and discussion of Conan's personal life." [8]

In his review for Vulture , Nicholas Quah praised O'Brien as a stellar podcast host in a very crowded field, writing, "His weirdness translates well to the casual intimacy that's come to define the podcast as a platform for performance, and his default stance of efficient self-deprecation makes the show feel accessible in ways that other comedy podcasts, fronted by needier ids, may not." Quah also praised the dynamic among O'Brien and his sidekicks on the show, Sona Movsesian and Matt Gourley: "It also helps that O'Brien is great at the performance of longer-form interviews, effectively balancing the impulse of filling the room with being genuinely curious, and there's also a lot of charm to be found in the podcast, particularly in the core O'Brien-Movsesian-Gourley workplace dynamic, which goes a long way to providing listeners with a sheen of habitual comfort." [26]

In an article for The Boston Globe , Joshua Macht noted that O'Brien establishing a weekly podcast confirmed that podcasting is no longer on the fringes of the digital audio market. Macht writes, "The arrival of heavy hitters such as Conan O'Brien may not signal the end of podcasting—or even the peak—but it will usher in a new phase for the medium." [27]

In a review for BBC Radio 4's Podcast Radio Hour, Jake Yapp celebrated the "sincerity and openness" of the show, despite its strong humor content. Yapp also praised the parity between guest and host, despite the many outstanding comedians on the podcast, and noted that there was a sincere lack of one-upmanship common among comedians. [28]

According to Irish writer Mark Farrelly, who called the podcast an "auditory delight", the podcast has been developing a "cult following" in Europe. Farrelly also praised the unexpected humor in the "Conan O'Brien Pays Off the Mortgage on His Beach House" segments, with O'Brien "showing his genius by turning live reads into top notch comedy material." [29]

O'Brien's success as a podcast host was the cover story of the August 20, 2019, issue of Variety magazine, in which he was dubbed "the darling of the podcasting world." [30] [31] That day, Marc Maron appeared on Conan with the issue, jokingly taking offense that O'Brien had been dubbed a pioneer of the medium after approximately 30 episodes, whereas Maron had done more than 1,000 at that point. [32]

The show won the 2021 Ambies Award for "Best Comedy Podcast". [33]

Downloads

Matt Gourley stated in the May 12, 2019, episode featuring Bill Hader, that each episode receives one million downloads in its first cycle, shortly after release, [9] which Variety referred to as "blockbuster numbers for a podcast." [30] In August 2021, Deadline Hollywood reported the podcast had reached over 250 million downloads and averaged more than nine million downloads per month. [13] In March 2024, Variety reported that the podcast had reached 427 million downloads. [34]

Episodes

Series overview

SeasonEpisodesOriginally released
First releasedLast released
1 36November 18, 2018 (2018-11-18)July 22, 2019 (2019-07-22)
Deep Dive with Dana Carvey 6August 4, 2019 (2019-08-04)September 8, 2019 (2019-09-08)
2 36October 7, 2019 (2019-10-07)June 8, 2020 (2020-06-08)
Summer S'mores S1 7June 15, 2020 (2020-06-15)July 27, 2020 (2020-07-27)
Needs a Friend 297August 3, 2020 (2020-08-03)Ongoing
Needs a Fan 220April 15, 2021 (2021-04-15)Ongoing
Summer S'mores S2 6June 9, 2022 (2022-06-09)July 14, 2022 (2022-07-14)
The Lost Hans and Franz Movie 4May 17, 2023 (2023-05-17)June 7, 2023 (2023-06-07)
Summer S'mores S3 6July 26, 2023 (2023-07-26)August 30, 2023 (2023-08-30)
Summer S'mores S4 6July 25, 2024 (2024-07-25)August 29, 2024 (2024-08-29)
The Conan and Jordan Show 10October 17, 2024 (2024-10-17)July 11, 2025 (2025-07-11)
Summer S'mores S5 6July 24, 2025 (2025-07-24)August 28, 2025 (2025-08-28)
Summer S'pouses 6July 30, 2026 (2026-07-30)September 3, 2026 (2026-09-03)

Season 1 (2018–19)

No.Title"I feel ____ about being Conan O'Brien's friend"Run TimeOriginal release date
1"Will Ferrell""Awkward"46:16November 18, 2018 (2018-11-18)
2"Kristen Bell""Supercharged"48:06November 25, 2018 (2018-11-25)
3"Bill Burr""Great"51:17December 2, 2018 (2018-12-02)
4"Dax Shepard""Very optimistic"48:54December 9, 2018 (2018-12-09)
5"Nick Offerman & Megan Mullally""Ambivalent" and "Really good"49:30December 16, 2018 (2018-12-16)
6"Wanda Sykes""Somewhat trapped"47:08December 23, 2018 (2018-12-23)
7"Pete Holmes""Frustrated but honored"47:33December 30, 2018 (2018-12-30)
8"Marc Maron""Nervous"46:36January 6, 2019 (2019-01-06)
9"Adam Sandler""Stunned"50:33January 13, 2019 (2019-01-13)
10"Ron Funches""Grateful and excited"46:15January 20, 2019 (2019-01-20)
11"Dana Carvey""Masculine"55:48January 27, 2019 (2019-01-27)
12"David Sedaris""Apprehensive"50:58February 3, 2019 (2019-02-03)
13"Stephen Colbert""Cool"54:51February 10, 2019 (2019-02-10)
14"Timothy Olyphant""Meh"1:00:37February 17, 2019 (2019-02-17)
15"Jeff Goldblum""Well, I feel, let me be, uh, truthful, and I feel, well, to the extent that we're friends, I feel we have a deep connection, but I wish we'd spend more time together. I'm available for your friendship however time-consuming, or, uh, any-any aspect of it. We've been friends in the sense that we have, in the way that we have on these shows and seeing each other here and there. You've, of course, I've enrolled you in, I-I finagled you into being part of that show, that movie, little movie that I did and you were so sweet to do that and then, what else? Oh we did a, we did a, we were there at the voi-, at some voice over we were doing. It was one of your things, yes, yes, yes. So, and then, I think we- did I have a date with you, or just ran into you at the Soho House? That was lovely. And I've always said, yes, let's- and we've exchanged information, but we've never availed ourselves of it. I've always said let's come over to my house and let's do many things. I do all, all manner of things, so I-I, I-I love being your friend however it does or doesn't pan out. But I tell you again, I'm available for the deepest, closest, and most time-consuming kind of friendship."59:36February 24, 2019 (2019-02-24)
16"Lisa Kudrow""Tired"1:01:55March 3, 2019 (2019-03-03)
16.5"Jessie Gaskell & Mike Sweeney""Hungry" and "Starving"31:39March 6, 2019 (2019-03-06)
17"Thomas Middleditch & Ben Schwartz""Sizzlin'" and "Curious"48:58March 10, 2019 (2019-03-10)
18"Michelle Obama""Cautiously optimistic"56:18March 17, 2019 (2019-03-17) [35]
19"Ray Romano""Good (with an exception)"50:10March 24, 2019 (2019-03-24)
20"Ben Stiller""Excited yet not holding my breath"56:32March 31, 2019 (2019-03-31)
21"Nicole Byer""Excited!"51:49April 7, 2019 (2019-04-07)
22"Patton Oswalt""Anxious"1:02:55April 14, 2019 (2019-04-14)
23"Tig Notaro""Glad"1:02:13April 21, 2019 (2019-04-21)
24"Robert Caro""Cautiously optimistic"56:14April 28, 2019 (2019-04-28)
25"Jimmy Kimmel""Sexually excited"58:15May 5, 2019 (2019-05-05)
26"Bill Hader""Great"59:10May 12, 2019 (2019-05-12)
27"Howard Stern""Badly (about not being Conan O'Brien's friend)"1:30:41May 19, 2019 (2019-05-19)
28"Bob Newhart""Anxious"1:02:15May 26, 2019 (2019-05-26)
29"Hannah Gadsby""Confused"49:22June 2, 2019 (2019-06-02)
30"Martin Short""Ashamed"57:42June 10, 2019 (2019-06-10)
31"Lin-Manuel Miranda""Great"1:05:11June 16, 2019 (2019-06-16)
32"Billy Eichner""Mixed"1:02:46June 24, 2019 (2019-06-24)
33"Mila Kunis""Indifferent"1:02:56July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01)
34"Andy Richter""Just fine"58:00July 8, 2019 (2019-07-08)
35"Kumail Nanjiani""Apologetic"1:05:55July 15, 2019 (2019-07-15)
36"Julia Louis-Dreyfus""A tad hopeful (but not really)"1:01:52July 22, 2019 (2019-07-22)

Deep Dive with Dana Carvey (2019)

Features comedian Dana Carvey as co-host.

Xu, Linda (November 8, 2018). "Team Coco Launches 'Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend' Podcast". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  • 1 2 Donaghey, River; Schwartz, Drew (November 8, 2018). "Conan O'Brien's New Podcast Has an Insanely Good Guest Lineup". Vice . Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  • ↑ Koblin, John (April 17, 2019). "A Fan's Love, Requited at Last: Conan O'Brien Lands Robert Caro". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  • ↑ "Biden tapes podcast interview with former late-night host Conan O'Brien". AP News. December 15, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  • ↑ Doyle, Patrick (January 21, 2019). "The Last Word: Conan O'Brien on Catholicism, 'The Simpsons' and Life As Late Night's Elder Statesman". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  • ↑ Itzkoff, Dave (January 21, 2019). "Can Conan O'Brien Reinvent 'Conan'?". The New York Times . Archived from the original on May 20, 2022. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  • ↑ Spangler, Todd (May 10, 2025). "SiriusXM to Release 'Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend' Full Video Podcasts on YouTube (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety.
  • 1 2 Saincome, Matt (December 28, 2018). "Best New Comedy Podcasts of 2018". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  • 1 2 Conan O'Brien (May 12, 2019). "Bill Hader, episode #26 of Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend on Earwolf". Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend (Podcast). Earwolf. Event occurs at 57:30. Archived from the original on May 16, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  • ↑ "Mila Kunis, episode #33 of Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend on Earwolf". earwolf.com. Archived from the original on July 1, 2019. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  • ↑ White, Peter (April 13, 2021). "Conan O'Brien Launches Fan Call-In Podcast". Deadline. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  • ↑ "Jake Gyllenhaal, episode #147 of Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend on Earwolf". www.earwolf.com. Archived from the original on October 11, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  • 1 2 Petski, Denise (August 16, 2021). "'Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend' Podcast Sets Live Recording At L.A.'s Wiltern Theater". Deadline. Archived from the original on May 11, 2022. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  • ↑ Weprin, Alex (May 23, 2022). "Conan O'Brien Sells Podcast Business to SiriusXM for $150M". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  • ↑ Schneider, Michael (May 17, 2023). "Conan O'Brien Must Go' International Travel Series Ordered by Max". Variety.com. Variety . Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  • ↑ Bissada, Mason (May 17, 2023). "Conan O'Brien Sets New Travel Series 'Conan O'Brien Must Go' at Max (Video)". Yahoo Entertainment. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  • ↑ Goldberg, Lesley (May 17, 2023). "Conan O'Brien Sets Travel Series at Max". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  • ↑ Savino, Christine. "Conan O'Brien returns to the Oxford Union". The Oxford Student. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  • ↑ Squires, Bethy (June 7, 2019). "Dana Carvey and Conan O'Brien Are Making a Podcast Miniseries". Vulture. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  • ↑ Colburn, Randall (June 7, 2019). "Conan O'Brien and Dana Carvey dropping new podcast series this summer". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  • ↑ Fishman, Laurel (April 1993). "Nealon Update". Vegetarian Times. p. 64.
  • ↑ "For the week of 10/31/2016 to 11/04/2016". MarksFriggin.
  • ↑ White, Peter (May 1, 2023). "'SNL's Lost Hans & Franz Movie Turned Into Podcast By Conan O'Brien, Dana Carvey & Kevin Nealon". Deadline.
  • ↑ Wang, Jessica (May 17, 2023). "Hear Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon read from their scrapped Hans and Franz movie". EW.com. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  • ↑ "Tracy Morgan Live at the Beacon Theater". www.teamcoco.com. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  • ↑ Quah, Nicholas (January 10, 2019). "Conan O'Brien Is the Perfect Podcast Host". Vulture . Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  • ↑ Macht, Joshua (January 16, 2019). "Ideas | Joshua Macht: How the podcast juggernaut took off". The Boston Globe . Archived from the original on February 4, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  • ↑ "No Planet B and Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend". Podcast Radio Hour. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved May 31, 2019.[ dead link ]
  • ↑ Farrelly, Mark (May 13, 2019). "Conan O'Brien's Podcast Just Keeps Getting Better". The Rewind. Balls.ie. Archived from the original on May 15, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  • 1 2 Lang, Brent; Spangler, Todd (August 20, 2019). "How Conan O'Brien and Other Top Hosts Are Tapping Into the Podcast Revolution". Variety . Archived from the original on December 2, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  • ↑ "COVER STORY: How Conan O'Brien and other top hosts are driving the podcast revolution". @variety. Twitter. August 20, 2019. Archived from the original on November 16, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  • ↑ Perkins, Dennis (August 21, 2019). "Marc Maron has some thoughts about newbie Conan O'Brien being named a podcasting pioneer". The A.V. Club . Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  • ↑ "The Ambies: 2021 Winners". Ambies . 2021. Archived from the original on November 7, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
  • ↑ Schneider, Michael (March 9, 2024). "'Conan O'Brien Must Go,' the Host's Return to TV, Gets a Max Premiere Date". Variety. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
  • ↑ Cohen, Jess (March 18, 2019). "Michelle Obama Gets Candid About Raising Kids in the White House". E! . Archived from the original on March 19, 2019. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
    • No.TitleRun TimeOriginal release date
    FA5Solid podcast icon.svg
    		External podcast links (?)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.